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Making An American Gentleman 


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■flaking An 
American Gentleman 


' c- 

ANNE TEQUAY 


"YHa/o. Cui'i^ CCL^- 





Boston 

THE KOXBURGH PUBLISHING CO., INC. 




CJopyright, 1920 
By The Roxburgh Pub. Co. ^ 
Rights Reserved 



APR -9 1920 


©CU56551 




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V 


CONTENTS 


Chapter Page 

I. The Problem 7 

II. Figuring 15 

III. The Solution 23 

IV. A New Slate 34 

V. Sure Enough School 42 

VI. Work and Play 49 

VII. A New Factor 56 

VIII. Pals 62 

IX. A Rainy Day 71 

X. Adventure 79 

XI. Parting 85 

XII. East and West 89 

XIII. A Close Call 97 

XIV. A Mountain Frolic 102 

XV. A Revelation 110 

XVI. West and East 116 

XVII. An Old Friend 121 

XVIII. Another World 135 

XIX. An Understanding 144 

XX. Explanations 151 





















CHAPTER I. 


The Problem. 

The afternoon sun was sinking in a fiery 
bed behind the dark horizon line which 
Mrs. Noble knew were mountains. 

Their outlines would rapidly become more 
distinct as the rushing train carried her into 
the western city where she meant to break 
her journey. 

Ever her problem recurred and, even 
while her appreciative eye took in the 
beauty of the flaming west, her thoughts 
were busy with this fear that obsessed her. 

Finally her restlessness carried her out of 
her state room and, with a backward glance 


8 


MAKING AN 


at her boy and her maid happily engaged with 
crayons and paper, she wandered through the 
long train. Pullman after Pullman she tra- 
versed, for the summer season was at hand 
and the heavy continental travel could only 
be handled by mammoth trains. 

Everywhere she saw the same signs of 
wealth and pleasure and self-seeking. Here 
was a purse-proud mother and two haughty 
daughters ; here, an entire family on pleasure 
bent, the spoiled children a source of annoy- 
ance to the whole car. Here a bride and 
groom lost themselves in each other’s eyes 
in entire oblivion to their fellows, while a 
grouchy old man nursed his gout and ill 
nature in the next section. 

Busy porters rushed here and there to 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


9 


answer impatient bells and pocketed the tips 
which meant nothing to the givers. 

And the little brown-eyed lady found no 
comfort as she glanced at the evidences of 
care-free wealth. 

She dropped into a seat in the tourist car. 
There was no ennui here. There were loud 
voices, to be sure. The laughter was not re- 
fined, perhaps. But neighbor did not hesitate 
to speak to neighbor, and little courtesies were 
exchanged without rebuff. A dark haired 
boy was telling his seat mate about his tasks. 
Yes, he had to feed the cows in the morning 
and help carry in the milk before he had his 
breakfast. Next year he would be old enough 
to help with the milking and must get up at 
five-thirty, for he had two miles to walk to 
school. 


10 


MAKING AN 


Big enough? Just look at his arms ! Why, 
when there was snow he pulled a little neigh- 
bor all the way to school on his sled. And, 
as she listened, she saw in her mind, her own 
iboy waking in his luxurious room with a 
nurse at hand to bathe and dress and curl 
him, to see to his breakfast and finally to es- 
cort him in a closed cab to his select school. 

While this son of the soil was discovering 
new interests and developing new strength, 
her boy would be whimpering over his break- 
fast or quarrelling with his nurse. 

As the small pioneer went to the front of 
the car, she caught the lower tones of a 
woman near her talking to a chance acquaint- 
ance. She was spending a couple of days in 
Denver before she went on up into the moun- 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


11 


tains to their ranch. She had been too long 
away and she knew her husband needed her 
sorely, so the necssary trading in town must 
be done quickly. It was too bad they had no 
son. She and her husband loved children and 
a big boy would be such a help to them. It 
was the greatest place in the world for a boy 
to grow up. Yes, they had had a boy but he 
had not lived ; perhaps that was why they en- 
vied most the mothers of sons. 

She always stayed at the Mountain House 
when they made their infrequent trips to 
town. Mr. James liked it there, and he was 
nearly always sure to find some crony there, 
as it was a favorite rendezvous for stock- 
men. And long after she had retired in her 
luxurious suite in the exclusive hotel that 


12 


MAKING AN 


night, Mrs. Noble was revolving in her mind 
the picture of a dark-haired boy trudging 
through the snow, whistling a greeting to 
rabbits and snow-birds, and putting beside 
it the picture of a peevish, white-skinned 
aristocrat of eight. While in the back of her 
mind she remembered the kindly woman 
who would love to raise a boy on her 
mountain ranch. 

Mrs. Noble was perhaps not so different 
from her friends. She herself had been 
raised in the lap of luxury and the usual 
round of pleasure had been hers. But she 
had married very young, — such a suitable 
match and the union of two fortunes, — and 
had found herself developing an individuality 
as surprising to herself, as to her friends. She 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


13 


was appalled at the emptiness of her hus- 
band's life, and shuddered at the thought of 
being submerged by it. 

Then, suddenly and unexpectedly she 
found herself a widow with the scandal of 
her husband's death in a road-house brawl, 
to live down; with the accumulated estates 
of two families to administer and with the 
soul of a boy child in her keeping. 

The usual mental paralysis followed the 
shock. Three years she spent in retirement, 
reveling in her motherhood and finding in her 
boy a solace for her wounded pride. But 
now that the world was claiming her again 
the ugly picture of the father's weaknesses 
was coming back. Had he been to blame? 
Was it possible for the pampered child of 


14 


MAKING AN 


wealth to develop character or even to appre- 
ciate the fine things of life? Had any one 
ever grown an oak tree under glass? Was 
her boy to grow into an oak or would he be 
only one of the dwarfed, tub products that 
Japanese artists love to cultivate? 

When finally she fell asleep, it was to 
dream of a sturdy boy with eyes like her own 
trudging along a country road, whistling as 
he went, while a collie trotted at his side and 
watched the cows which they were driving. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


15 


CHAPTER II. 

Figuring. 

At luncheon the next day Mrs. James at 
the Mountain House found herself sitting 
down at a table with a neatly dressed little 
widow, and in her friendly way was soon 
exchanging confidences. The stranger was 
anxious to spend a few weeks in the moun- 
tains and as her means were limited, it was 
not strange that before they parted, it was 
arranged that she and her small boy were to 
accompany the mountain woman to her home. 

When Mr. James met the train next day 
he found not only his wife, but a shabby 


16 


MAKING AN 


looking- widow and a small boy, prospective 
summer boarders at his mountain ranch. 

His horses were strong and his load not 
heavy — several sacks of flour, some pieces of 
machinery, and some window sashes. 

His carriage was a heavy farm wagon 
with boards for seats. To be sure, the seats 
were covered with folded quilts whose gay 
colors suggested to the eastern lady a vague 
thought of Indians. 

The ranchman himself was a rough, griz- 
zled man who might have been quoted as an 
instance of the ability of animal life to adapt 
itself to its environment. Some way or other 
he made you think of rugged heights and 
mountain winds, — the kind of man to exult 
in a struggle with the elements. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


17 


His city passenger eyed askance the heavy, 
springless wagon and climbed to her high 
seat with much foreboding, which was not 
lessened as she looked out over the sun- 
baked plain which they must cross. 

Their trip was slow, as the heavy horses 
must needs walk, and a whole hour of grad- 
ual ascent brought them at last to the top of 
a ridge from which they would dip into the 
valley which lay between them and the upland 
ranch. 

The morning sun threw an almost unbe- 
lievable glamour over this semi-arid plain. 
It lay, a picture in greens and yellows, un- 
dulating to the foot hills, full of promise to 
the unaccustomed eye. Beyond, the sun- 
kissed hills rose in tiers, to the sky. Purples 


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MAKING AN 


and blues and greens blended in soft waves 
to outline their distant slopes. 

The traveler was already weary with such 
discomfort as she had never known, but the 
panorama of beauty spread out at her feet, 
made her forget her aching back. 

“Yes, it’s pretty from here,” was her host- 
ess* non-committal answer, as she burst into 
enthusiastic admiration. And hour after hour 
of that hot, dusty road interpreted for her 
that terse comment. In itself the desert has 
no beauty. There is no green, there is no 
yellow. The melting shadows are not there, 
the shimmering haze is only reflected heat. 
It is the great camouflage, the desert. So, it 
led our forefathers on and on. Always just 
before lay the land of promise. Endlessly 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


19 


they drove on. No one talked. Driver and 
horses understood each other. The presence 
of a stranger created an embarrassment to 
intimate conversation between husband and 
wife. The child slept in a nest of blankets 
and Mrs. Noble was busy with her thoughts 
and racked with weariness. 

Eleven o’clock found them halted under a 
big cottonwood at the side of a dry wash. 
The horses were unhitched and fed, while 
bread and butter, cold ham and doughnuts 
had never tasted so good. There was water 
too in a stone jug — ^how welcome it was. 

Son was very wide awake and wondering 
now. “Where are we? Are we going some 
place? Was that a rabbit? Oh — a jack rab- 
bit!” He climbed into the seat wtth the 


20 


MAKING AN 


driver, where he swayed perilously for the 
next few hours and thoroughly broke the re- 
straint of the party. 

“Well, now, don’t he beat all to ask ques- 
tions? How do you ever answer them all?” 
And she dared not confess how little she 
knew her own boy and how seldom she had 
been with him to hear his questions. 

Late afternoon brought them to the foot- 
hills, and to a winding canon up which their 
road climbed. 

So wearied was she that it seemed almost 
impossible that she could endure more. She 
looked in wonder at her companions, whose 
stolidity was a mystery to her. In fact this 
was a weekly trip for one or the other of 
them, and only one part of their hard lives. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


21 


Butter and eggs and produce must go to mar- 
ket once a week ; necessary groceries and 
sometimes boarders must come back. 

For the next two hours the wagon bounced 
and jolted over boulders and through the 
creek bed and always up and up they climbed. 
Buit, oh, the beauty of the gorge as it opened 
before them, — the sides clothed with pines 
that cut olf the sky, the water clear as shin- 
ing glass, while here and there dogwood and 
haws and chokecherries flung their sweet 
blossoms to the breeze. 

Again and again where the road was rough- 
est and their passage slow, the two women 
climbed down and found walking a relief to 
tired muscles, outstripping their team and 
filling their hands with violets and ferns from 


22 


MAKING AN 


the swampy banks. The restlessness of child- 
hood saved the small boy from collapse. Some- 
times he was on top of the load, sometimes 
standing behind the seat, sometimes hanging 
to the back of the wagon while his fat legs 
kept frantic pace with the wheels. “Why, he 
was just like other boys when his nurse was 
gone.’^ She was right, she was right. Al- 
ready she felt it, although too weary to think. 


AMEEIGAN GENTLEMAN 


23 


CHAPTER III. 

The Solution. 

Dusk found them at their destination, al- 
though beyond a hazy memory of some- 
thing warm to drink and of hearing a re- 
mark as to her probable ill health, she could 
not have told next morning how she had 
reached the soft bed in which she awakened 
with her baby still sleeping in her arms. 

As she remembered where she was she 
glanced at her watch. It was incredibly early, 
only eight o’clock, and from habit, she 
closed her eyes. But if she had never before 
awakened at eight, neither had she ever 


24 


MAKING AN 


gone to bed at eight, and this night she had 
slept the clock around. 

Reopened eyes took in the room, log walls, 
chinked and white-washed, bare floors, with 
rag rugs, the wash stand, plainly a muslin 
draped box. But everything was spotlessly 
clean and the windows opened to the moun- 
tain side and filled the room with balsam- 
perfumed air. 

As she recalled her adventure she slipped 
from bed and made a hasty toilet. Never be- 
fore had she dressed without maid and every 
toilet luxury, and she found herself unbe- 
lievably clumsy. At last she found her way 
down the steep stairway and into the cheery 
kitchen. 

‘‘And you’re up at last! I thought you 


AMEEICAN GENTLEMAN 


25 


would sleep all day/’ called her hostess from 
the pantry. She was making out her butter 
and Mrs. Noble was much chagrined to find 
that a farmer’s day begins at five or earlier. 

At that altitude nine o’clock is cold, and 
she was glad to eat her eggs and bacon by the 
stove, and there she gave the small boy his 
breakfast later. 

She spent the day, and in fact, many days, 
finding herself. She was a boarder and free 
to come and go as she pleased. 

She had traveled the world over, had 
climbed in Switzerland and motored in 
France. She loved Japan’s delicate beauty 
and luxuriated in the sensuous charm of the 
South Sea Islands. But there was some- 
thing about the wooded slope which 


26 


MAKING AN 


hemmed in this mountain valley, that ap- 
pealed to her as nothing had done before. 

The trout-filled stream was as clear as pol- 
ished glass. Columbine, lilies and wild flags 
grew to her waist and the lush grass was like 
a thicket of undergrowth into which she must 
plunge if she left the trail. 

The sun peeping over the pines in the morn- 
ing, tinted leaf and flower and stream with 
a radiance full of promise of bursting glory. 
Slipping out of sight at night, it left behind 
it a trail of resplendence fast fading into 
shadows and mysterious night. 

And the moonlight — no words could de- 
scribe the fairy beauty with which it en- 
shrouded the earth. As the season advanced, 
other boarders came. Fishermen and camp- 


AMERICAN GENTLEIVIAN 


27 


ers — tourists and holiday makers. There 
wer^ convalescents, filling their lungs with 
life giving air — there were horseback parties, 
stopping for refreshment for riders and 
horses. Two girls were helping in the kitchen 
now and a boy helped with the ranch work. 

Where grass grew so rank and cattle were 
so sleek and fat there would seem to be no 
need of work. But, alas, the more successful 
the season, the more the demand seemed to 
be, until, to her city-trained eye, the whole 
valley seemed to revolve in an orgy of toil. 

But as her overtaut muscles relaxed, she 
cried out to herself over and over, this is real 
life. 

She found herself ready for sleep at eight 
and unwilling to miss the sunrise at six. 


28 


MAKING AN 


And ever she was revolving her problem 
and strengthening her resolution. 

Son was happy, happy, happy. He waded 
in the stream, he rode the horses to the stable, 
he rolled in the sand with the puppies, he 
played Indian among the trees, and made a 
camp by the roadside. Linens and velvets 
had been discarded for corduroy and flannel. 
Toilets were brief — nurse was forgotten. 
"‘Mother, let’s stay here forever.” 

“Mother, let’s stay here forever.” Let’s — 
there was the ache. It was an impossibility 
for her to stay, and for the first time in his 
four years, she was learning her son, and she 
must give him up. For that was her plan 
for her boy — heir to one of America’s colos- 
sal fortunes, to have equal chances with the 
poor boy. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


29 


Already letters were following her from 
the outside world, and the detection which 
would defeat her scheme would soon follow. 

The work was done for the day, boarders 
had gone to their quarters, from the kitchen 
came the clatter of dishes as the girls hast- 
ened to get through this last, hateful task. 
The rancher and his wife sat for a few min«» 
utes in their sitting room, he in his stockings, 
while she read him a little from a paper left 
by a party that day. 

Mrs. Noble tucked in the covers, bade the 
sleepy eyes count the stars through his open 
window, and slipped down to have her talk 
out^ “I find that I must get back to my 
work,'' she said, as she wondered what her 
friends would have thought of such a state- 


30 


MAKING AN 


ment from a woman who, so far as they 
knew, had never unhooked her own gowns. 
‘‘I was so worn out that my employer told 
me to take at least two months off, but I 
am suite strong again.” 

“You surely are all of that,” said Mrs. 
James, while Mr. James assured her that 
she had looked like a summer breeze would 
blow her away when he first saw her. “It 
would sure take a small cyclone now,” he 
chuckled. 

“I don’t see how we can spare Bobbie, 
though,” said his wife. “Seems like he just 
belongs here. My, how he has grown, and 
brown as a berry. Why, he was white as a 
girl when he came and afraid to wash his 
hands in cold water. And yesterday when he 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


31 


fell in the creek we could hardly get him out 
again — said he was playing fish. And there I 
was leaving my work go to laugh at him and 
near burning my bread up before I could 
leave. Oh, if only we had a boy of our own.*' 

“Dear Mrs. James," ventured the little 
widow, “I hate to take him back to my hot 
apartment. If youi were not so busy, I should 
ask you to keep him for me. My salary is 
sufficient to pay for his keep, and he is alone 
so much while I am at work. He is wild 
over this life and I could come after him 
when I get another vacation. Or, if he was 
too much trouble, of course you could send 
him home." 

“Why, he wouldn’t be any trouble at all, 
just dress him and wash him and see that he 


33 


MAKING AN 


is fed, now. After while when winter comes 
and it gets so fearful cold up here, why then 
there ain’t much work to do and I’d be glad 
to have him to take care of. He’d be com- 
pany for me, then, and it sure would do him 
good. What do you think, pa?” 

*‘Looks good to me,” said that burly man, 
as he stretched his legs and knocked the ashes 
from his pipe. ‘What this house needs is a 
kid and he sure is a fine one. Molly needs 
one too, and if we can’t have one of our own 
let’s borrow one, by gum. Do you good, too, 
old girl,” he added, patting Molly affection- 
ately on the shoulder. 

“We’ll try it awhile,” was their final deci- 
sion, and the next week found Mrs. Noble 
gone and Bobbie established as a member of 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


33 


the James family. He was given a cot of his 
own in their own room, with a big box under 
it where he could keep his things. His 
mother had been only one of the several care- 
takers that his short life had already 
known, and most of the ache of parting 
was on her side. 


34 


MAKING AN 


CHAPTER IV 

A New Slate. 

Even the conviction that she had made no 
mistake was little comfort to that bereaved 
woman, and she was tempted many times to 
turn back before the long trip east was 
finished. But once among her familiars, 
her courage revived. She had only to look 
into the nurseries of her friends to know 
that hers was the truer love. 

^'Bobbie? I put him into a private school in 
the west. Such invigorating air out there, 
don’t you know. The St. James, and they 
pay especial attention to physical develop- 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


35 


ment. And Agnes is really going to marry 
that roue? Why, he is worse than a Mor- 
mon.” Farther questions were forgotten in 
the delightful gossip started. 

Even her lawyer learned no more. He had 
reason to respect her shrewd judgment, and 
when she laughingly told him that her boy 
was safe from kidnappers, he let the question 
drop. 

Up in the mountains Bobbie was a favorite 
alike with boarders, cooks and hired hands. 

Naturally fearless, sweet-tempered, and 
quick to learn, he fitted himself into his 
niche and was happy. As for Mrs. James 
she hardly dared admit to herself how 
happy she was. Many a night she wakened 
to watch the little face in the moonlight and 


36 


MAKING AN 


to dream dreams. ‘‘Maybe she’ll not want 
him when she marries again; she’s sure to 
find another man, and they don’t always 
want their other children. She’d ought to 
marry; she ain’t strong enough to support 
herself and him too.” 

Bobbie seemed especially fitted for this life. 
Every phase appealed to him. As the short 
summer season drew to an end and city people 
left them to their solitude, mornings and 
evenings were cold and there was less out- 
of-door life. But Bobbie had his store of 
summer garnered treasures on which to draw 
and his orderly little soul helped him to en- 
joy them to the utmost without making too 
much work for Aunt Mollie. And when 
winter set in in earnest, when snow walled 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


37 


them in three feet deep, when huge tunnels 
led to stable and shed and spring house, 
then these two, lonely woman and budding 
boy, were shut in to a companionship that 
tied their hearts together. The monthly 
remittance more than paid for him, and 
the woman was more than once ashamed 
to ask for it of the frail little working 
woman. 

She had not known such pleasure for many 
years as, clasping the warm little body in her 
arms, they rocked before the blazing fire in 
the twilight glow. 

Scarcely less was her husband's pleasure 
as, each in toque and mackinaw and high 
boots, they stalked around the barn yard at 
their morning and evening tasks. 


38 


MAKING AN 


“I did feed the chickens, Aunt Molly, and 
I got some eggs but I dropped one and the 
shell came off of it” Another time, letting 
himself cautiously down the slope from the 
chicken house with a cap full of eggs, his 
stout little boots slipped under him, and — 
“I can’t wear my nice woolly cap again till 
it’s washed,” he lamented. 

It was even a comfort to scold him, for so 
his mother had bidden them. “I can’t have 
him spoiled,” she had said. So, by coming of 
Spring, the casual stranger would not have 
suspected that he was not the ranchman’s 
own. 

A five-year-old boy on a ranch has many 
chores and a six-year-old is quite a man. Mrs. 
Noble at each visit found him more and more 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


39 


realizing her ideal. At her second visit she 
found him incredibly grown and matured. 
Even her mother-love had ceased to reproach 
her for the step she had taken. As she held 
him, restive, to her heart, over and over she 
said, “This is a man.*’. 

There was nothing coarse about this home, 
only the hard and practical. There was even 
a touch of refinement, and there was surely 
nothing effeminating. 

She stifled a chuckle as she tried to imagine 
a nurse maid buttoning him into his clothes. 
It had rained all day and he had been hauling 
stove wood in his home-made wagon. Now 
he had shut the chickens up for the night and 
fed the calves. He was sitting on the kitchen 
step pulling off his muddy boots. He would 


40 


MAKENG AN 


spend the evening barefoot. After a hasty 
wash up in the irrigation ditch behind the 
house, he combed his hair at a mirror on the 
back porch and came to talk to the stranger 
lady who visited him every year and whom 
he was learning to love. 

going to school next year. Then Fll 
write to you every week.’" “Will you, dear 
heart, then we’ll know each other better. And 
after you learn to read, Fll send you books.” 
That much she could do toward forming his 
character. “I have a friend who is a book- 
dealer and he will let me have all the books 
I want.” “I wonder/’ thought Aunt Mollie, 
“if she will marry him.” And for weeks she 
tried to decide whether a book dealer would 
or would not like a step-child. She was not 


AMEEIOAN GENTLEMAN 


41 


sure but that she might be capable of kid« 
napping said child and hiding with him the 
rest of her days. Only of course, it would be 
a very selfish love that would deprive Bobbie 
of the superior advantages of a city home 
with a book dealer for a father. 


42 


MAKING AN 


CHAPTER V. 

Sure Enough School. 

School was a great experience. In these 
snow clad, upland districts, school “keeps 
from bad weather to bad weather.” Miss 
Sims came up from the city in April and 
taught there until October. He adored Miss 
Sims, and she, sometime student in Psychol- 
ogy, wondered at the something finer in him 
than in his mates. His mates? Well, in this 
upland district, homes were also few and far 
apart and opportunities for meeting were rare 
and he had seen few children since he had be- 
come a mountaineer. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


43 


There were three other beginners like him- 
self, a small Swede brother and sister and a 
bright-eyed Italian boy. Freeda was six and 
Axel was nearly eight. But, ‘‘He not to go 
to skul if not Freeda to taken care of him,” 
his mother explained. He had to be pushed 
and pulled into place. Sometimes Freeda had 
to tell him when to answer questions. 

Bobbie admired Freeda very much. She 
had two yellow pigtails tied with red yarn. 
Her eyes were very blue and very sharp. She 
loved to push and pull and would gladly have 
managed him too. '‘Oh teacher,” she one day 
interrupted the Geography class, “this 
tooth ben out tree month and maybe I 
don’t get another.” 


44 


MAKING AN 


When Nello, the young Italian, started 
promptly to beat Bobbie, Freeda pulled him 
off and slapped his face good, so that he was 
fain to run to Miss Sims for protection. 

Miss Sims was a goddess. Teaching, as 
she did, when other children were on holiday, 
she tried to adapt the season to the children. 
She had only a handful, although they 
ranged through all the grades. They came 
for miles, riding burros or superannuated 
horses, and carrying their lunch slung 
round their necks. Miss Sims herself rode 
on behind the small boy at whose house she 
boarded. 

On warm days she conducted her session 
on the hill slope behind her building. Boys 
and girls brought tackle and bait which were 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


45 


kept hidden under the bridge, and many a 
trout was caught during mornings and recess. 

The smaller fry eked out their lunches with 
the wild strawberries growing on the hill- 
side. 

One day, after Bobbie’s high spirits had 
been unusually trying. Miss Sims punished 
him by "‘keeping him in” after school. When 
she started him home she explained that it 
had hurt her as much as it had him, but that 
something must be done to naughty boys. 
Then she kissed him and sent him away. 
Next night she found him lingering and to 
her warning “Hurry up,” he replied, “Please 
let me stay in, teacher. I’ll be awful good, 
teacher, if you’ll let me stav in.” 

Miss Sims had a sweetheart who would ride 


46 


MAKING AN 


Up from town Saturday nights and spend 
Sundays in the uplands. The children al- 
ways knew when he had been there, for 
Monday morning would find a box of candy 
on her desk, which she was very sure to 
share with them. 

It was all very much like a big family. 
There were no large children. Boys over fif- 
teen were needed in the fields. If there was 
to be educaton for them, they were sent to 
town in the winter and spent their summers 
at work. Bobbie learned fast. Was it an in- 
heritance from his broader minded ancestry? 
Who can tell? Perhaps it was due to the 
books which his mother sent, and from which 
Miss Sims culled much outside reading. 
There were only eight or ten families and 


AMEEIOAN GENTLEMAN 


47 


these were of the foreign, peasant class who 
are the backbone of our western country. 
These children are faithful students but learn 
slowly. Miss Sims’ school, just large enough 
to legally demand a teacher, yet contained 
Swedes, Finlanders, Italians, Irish and Ger- 
mans. And the children got along together 
as amicably as did their parents who while 
not exactly in the melting pot, yet were 
very good friends. 

Bobbie’s mother found a new Bobbie at 
every visit. When he was six she must needs 
visit school often and admire Miss Sims’ 
yellow curls, khaki dress and trim, boot- 
shod feet. Teacher was very sorry for the 
little widow who must work so hard and 
must leave her boy so far away. She, too, 


48 


MAKING AN 


thought it strange that the lonely widow 
could not find a husband to help her bear 
her burdens. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


49 


CHAPTER VI 
Work and Play. 

At eight Bobbie had caught his first trout 
and mother was introduced to the charms 
of silent trout-stalking. And once a slave 
to the fisherman’s art, none can quite es- 
cape its lure; so, for many summers, their 
leisure hours were spent whipping the wil- 
low-fringed stream, while elusive trout 
watched with wise eyes from their hiding 
under moss and rock. 

Freeda was often their companion, al- 
though she never mastered the use of hook 
and line. Rather, she trussed up her scanty 


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MAKING AN 


skirts and, with legs bare, darted into the 
pool and seizing her victim unaware, bore 
the astonished trout to land, struggling, in 
her bare hand. 

Summer people, traveling long distance 
and paying snug board bills, for the privi- 
lege of indulging in the fascinating sport, 
looked with envy on the strings these small 
fishermen took home, and Bobbie earned 
not a few quarters by piloting these ama- 
teurs to secret pools. 

With the years, the popularity of Forest- 
dale increased, and the James family found 
all they could do to keep up with the de- 
mands on their hospitality. Bobbie's re- 
sponsibilities increased and in the ranch- 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


51 


man’s frequent absences, the growing boy 
took pride in being called foreman. 

At fifteen he was up at 4.30, milking his 
share of the thirteen cows, feeding the 
calves, churning the heavy cream, and 
ready to eat his breakfast at seven with all 
the appetite of a healthy farmer’s lad. The 
influx of summer guests had long since 
driven him to the hayloft, which he shared 
with the one or two hired men whom the 
ranch employed. 

He had a cabin, to be sure, which he had 
built in the aspens in a secluded draw up 
the canon. But that was a secret place. 
No one had seen it but his mother. There 
he kept the skins which his rifle and traps 
had brought him and there he stored his 


52 


MAKING AN 


books and other treasurers. It was a hid- 
ing place rather than a place for habitation. 
Besides, for secrecy it was three miles 
from headquarters, entirely too far for early 
morning tasks. 

He had a strange, unaccountable feeling 
for the beautiful lady whom he called 
mother. He saw her so seldom and she 
seemed to have no responsibilty for him, 
and yet he sensed her deep love and felt 
something of her wonderful sacrifice with- 
out knowing it. They kept up a constant 
correspondence and it was to her alone that 
he opened up his heart. 

Gone was all memory of a past, faded 
with the face of his nurse maid. Everything 
he owed to his good foster parents. Deep 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


53 


was the love between himself and his Aunt 
Molly. But there was something in the tie 
between himself and the other one that no 
other affection touched. The tie that was 
part of his being when, an unformed atom, 
he lay beneath her heart, had never been 
broken. Always he looked forward to the 
time when it would be his to bear her bur- 
dens and give her a life of ease. 

She was bearing up wonderfully under 
her hard life. Mother Molly, who was her- 
self frail and worn with her unceasing toil, 
could find no trace of years on the smooth 
cheek; and the slender hands were white 
and well kept. But of course office work 
was different. She had even saved up 
enough money to send him east to school 


54 


MAKING AN 


later. Just now he was to spend his winters 
in town with Mother Molly, who needed the 
rest, to take care of him. 

And so things were arranged when Mrs. 
Noble left for home in his fifteenth summer. 
The trip was not so hard now. Mr. James 
took his two or three passengers to the foot 
of the canon where they were transferred to 
an auto stage and the rest of the journey 
was brief indeed compared with the agony 
of former days. 

Bob had ridden beside them to the top of 
the hill. Tall and straight and fair he 
looked as he sat on his horse on the summit 
and waved his cap until she was out of 
sight. 

Summer was always a busy time and not 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


55 


until dusk did he have time to return to the 
home place and he was busy milking- the 
fifteen cows when the wagon returned from 
the valley. 


56 


MAKING AN 


CHAPTER VII 

A New Factor. 

There were several passengers, and he ran 
to help with the luggage. There was a fat 
German from St. Louis who had driven cattle 
across the country twenty years before. His 
two school teacher daughters were with him. 

This was not their first visit and their elo- 
quence had been responsible for the other two 
guests. These were a tailor-made lady of 
much dignity and a very charming daughter, 
Ellen, whose blue eyes looked roguishly 
from under black brows with a twinkle ir- 
resistibly Irish. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


57 


In a moment she had pounced upon Bob as 
her natural prey and the country boy stag- 
gered forward laden with boxes, bags and 
parcels, while the small maiden brought up 
the rear with sundry parasols and rugs. 

“Put the things on the bed, and don’t drop- 
any,”, she ordered imperiously. “Yes, your 
Majesty,” came the quick retort, as the youth 
straightened from his task. 

“Well, I declare,” but Bob was already 
whistling down the stairs and the puzzled 
brows must needs unknit as she viewed the 
wonders of her new abode. 

Everything seemed to beckon her at once, — 
the sun, flaming to its bed, the pines towering 
in such majesty and wafting their pungent 
perfume through her window, the twittering 


58 


MAKING AN 


birds as they settled themselves in the shad- 
ows for the night, the brook whose song 
would lull her to sleep, — How could she wait 
until morning to visit these new mysteries. 

And the supper! perhaps her lady mother 
found the fare common, but not so her daugh- 
ter Ellen. Youth and adventure and moun- 
tain air, there is no better tonic, and the 
amount of ham and melting biscuit that she 
consiuned was a scandal. 

At last with a sigh, she had wandered out 
to find the saucy boy who had dared laugh 
at her. He was just bringing the foaming 
pails from milking shed to spring house 
where, with a few deft turns of the sepa- 
rator, he filled a jar with cream and set it 
away to cool. The milk he carried back to 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


59 


the waiting calves. His very efficiency was 
a rebuke and she watched him humbly until 
he disappeared into the kitchen. 

But sly Robert was not so indifferent as 
he had seemed. Out of the corner of his 
eye he had seen much ; and no detail of rib- 
bon or hair or gown had escaped him and 
best of all he liked the twinkle in her eye. 

A solemnity born of their struggle with 
nature marks most country children. Per- 
haps it is born in them, for this thing Robert 
lacked. And already he suspected in this 
city maid, a kindred joyousness. His early 
breakfast was over and he was gone next 
morning long before she came down stairs. 
But his lusty halloa as he drove the herd 


60 


MAKING AN 


into their corral that night found her 
waiting. 

Every minute of the day had been crowd- 
ed full, and yet everything had been new 
and mamma had been so insistent in her 
restrictions that she felt she had made lit- 
tle headway. 

Although mamma had felt no fear in al- 
lowing her to talk to a servant, her own 
keen sense had warned her that here was 
no servile soul, and she was following her 
intuition. 

Her condescension meant nothing to the 
country boy and in a few minutes they were 
fast friends. Already his reputation as a 
milker was unusual and she watched his 
capable hands with awe. She had never 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


61 


been quite so close to nature, and the milk- 
man’s trade had been a sealed or rather an 
unopened book to her. Within the week she 
too had coaxed the warm white stream from 
reluctant udders and white frocks had suf- 
fered more than once when she had been 
worsted in a wrestle for the bucket with a 
hungry calf. Inded, such havoc resulted to 
ruffles and ribbons in the first few days that 
a more sensible outfit of boots and khaki 
were ordered, and sent up before the week’s 
end and Ellen’s emancipation began. 


63 


MAKING AN 


CHAPTER VIII 
Pals. 

Work and play, alike, they shared. Her 
mother was reassured as to Robert’s respon- 
sibility and was only too glad to be relieved 
of her spirtual presence. 

As for Robert, perhaps he had never real- 
ized the craving of his being for a real pal. 

Freeda had been his willing slave, equally 
ready to fight his battles or to brush his hair 
and wash his face. 

The boys ! Clumsy hulks ! Something in 
his alert young mind differentiated him, he 
knew not what. Only — they were not kin. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


63 


Proudly he taught this new being the art 
of tickling the elusive trout and soon her 
string quite equalled his own. Patroniz- 
ingly he taught her the principles of his 
business of ranch manager and she soon 
had a plow horse set aside for her own use 
when they rounded up their cows for the 
night. This horse she rode as on a feather 
bed, with thin legs sticking straight out 
and small, thin body bouncing cruelly. 
But then Doc’s speed was safe. Confiden- 
tially he showed his traps and his skins 
and the trophies of his rifle and hunting 
knife. 

Shyly he introduced her to the hidden 
cabin and beside its rough stone fireplace 


'64 


MAKING AN 


Opened up to her the secret thoughts of his 
heart. 

Why she appealed to him, he did not 
know. Perhaps it was the call of blood. 
Perhaps some other city child might have 
proved alien. At any rate, this he felt, she 
understood. And Ellen — in this boy she 
realized all the smothered ambitions of her 
guarded life, all the vitality, the keen alert- 
ness, the originality which was bad form in 
her mother’s set; and make the most of it 
she must before vacation days were over. 
And her cheeks were tanned, her hair rough 
and her legs tireless in her first pursuit of 
nature. 

“Fix your own lunch. Pm busy enough 
without bothering with you,” Mrs. J. would 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


65 


say. Bread and butter, — such bread and 
such butter! Every day farmer churned 
that big jar of cream and every day farmer’s 
Avife baked an oven full of bread and rolls. 
Bread and butter, cookies, eggs and ham 
from the home supply in the big ice house! 
Fish poles and tackle, rifle, dogs and lunch I 
Off for the day. 

“Let’s go down the creek today. You 
can’t ride very far down, nor walk, for that 
matter, very easy.” 

“All right! Beat you to the pasture 
gate !” 

Around the bend they went out of sight. 
The stream was swift and high and must be 
crossed again and again. For some reason 


66 


MAKING AN 


fishing- -was not so good down here, although 
the pools looked promising. 

^'Let’s eat our lunch and climb up to Sil- 
ver Circle. We can leave our poles here.” 
Away up to the left they could see the 
gleaming road and a hut or two that was all 
that remained of this little mining camp. 

After a hearty lunch they stretched out on 
the sand to give their overworked muscles 
a rest. 

“When I’m a man, I’m a-going to fix up 
one of those cabins. I’ll bet there’s gold up 
there.” Then, with the rancher’s perspec- 
tive — “And it’s mighty fine pasture, I al- 
ways set wolf traps up there. I know 
where there’s lots of grouse too.” 

“Are there any bears?” 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


67 


“Oh, I s’pose so. There’s bears right 
around here if you knew it,” he replied laz- 
ily. “They won’t hurt you. Only thing 
that’ll hurt you is mountain lions. Mother 
Molly always worries about lions when I 
stay out too late. But I ain’t afraid. Are 
you?” 

“No-o” and she glances casually around, 
only to come to her feet with a slight 
scream. “There’s a bear now.” 

Up the slope opposite them and across the 
creek, scrambled a big, flat animal looking 
for all the world like an animated rug. 

“That’s a porcupine.” One glance satis- 
fied the young back woodsman. “Watch 
me scare him,” and a deftly flung rock sent 
Mr. Porky scrambling and sliding again for 


68 


MAKING AN 


dear life. Reaching a place of seeming safe- 
ty, he would pause only to sprawl again in 
his haste at another stone. He made a pic- 
ture so ludicrously awkward that the chil- 
dren spent some time laughing at his antics 
before they took their trail. 

“They come down to the cabins after 
salt,” explained Robert, “they’ll even eat the 
floors where the grease has splashed off the 
stoves. Eat the boards clear through. 
There ain’t enough of them to hurt any- 
thing though, so I never kill them.” 

At least three hours they spent on their 
climb and the sun was hot. But once in the 
abandoned camp they were well repaid. 

Hundreds of half wild cattle pastured in 
the upland valley. Only two or three 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


69 


cabins remained, built of logs so strong that 
they still promised to weather many winters. 
The cattle came bellowing from all sides and 
Ellen found herself on the top of one of the 
low cabins before Robert had told her reas- 
suringly that they were after the salt that 
their visitors usually brought. 

Beyond the glade curved the road which 
had given the camp its poetic name. Right 
on the side of the canon it clung, abandoned 
now by all but occasional hunters, as the 
forest had long since swallowed up its lower 
reaches. 

Above the road were gaping prospect 
holes and yawning tunnel mouths where the 
children played, and Robert shot a ‘‘boomer” 
as he called the rock squirrels, which are 


70 


MAKING AN 


scarce more than mountain rats. A family 
of young grouse fluttered up at their feet 
and the location was marked by Robert for 
farther investigation during the open season. 
“I always get grouse up here,” he explained 
grandly, as though he had not only two 
years to his hunting record. 

The trip home was a short one, all down 
hill, and made mostly on a scrambling ruti. 
Poles and buckets were rescued from their 
hiding and a delightful day was finished. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


71 


CHAPTER IX 
A Rainy Day. 

Next day it rained and they betook them- 
selves to the barn. More than she loved the 
house Ellen loved the barn. 

The stables were below, flanked by milk- 
ing quarters and wagon sheds, all built of 
the stone that had been gathered from the 
fields. Above, and opening to the hillside, 
was the huge hayloft. The whole length of 
the huge structure it extended and its fra- 
grant store was never exhausted. 

Nights are too long and cold and the sum- 
mer season is too short to admit the develop- 


72 


MAKING AN 


ment of most of the farmer’s staple crops. 
But the wild hay growing six feet tall in 
good season, and always renewing itself, is 
the glory of the Rocky mountain vales. Rip- 
pling in the sunlight, bordered with the blue 
and gold of the forest flowers, flashing back 
the cloud shadow or the glinting sun, and 
always set in its frame of dark green pines, 
it makes a picture well worth a cross country 
trip. 

It was Saturday, and Freeda and Axel had 
jogged over the hill on their old white horse 
to get some yeast and might spend the 
morning. So it was a merry party that 
climbed the rafters and made the old roof 
ring. 

Not so quick were the two little Swedes, 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


73 


but very sure footed. Axel suggested *‘Cir- 
cus” and strange to say, only the city child 
had never seen one. However, enthusiasm 
made up for ignorance and the play was on. 
All were star performers except Freeda. She 
was manager. There was no audience save 
the munching horses below and occasional 
fowls seeking sanctuary. Only Freeda’s 
authority prevented a three ringed perform- 
ance with each actor intent on his own part. 

*‘You should to wait for Axel,^’ she admon- 
ished as that youth stood on his head and 
turned cartwheels. 

‘'Now, Robert, come,” and Robert obedi- 
ently made of the rafters a trapeze. 

And the aristocratic Ellen, who had never 
been contaminated by even so much as the 


74 


MAKING AN 


sight of a circus, did an improvised highland 
fling on the rafters so enthusiastically that 
she lost her balance and disappeared, the 
treacherous hay having yielded at her de- 
scent and dropped her into the manger 
below. 

For a moment her astonished co-actors 
stared, then there was a frantic scramble for 
the ladder. But Robert, with a queer lump 
in his throat, waited for no ladder but 
dropped through a hole in the floor. 

Dazed by her sudden eclipse, Ellen after 
one piercing shriek, was silent. Down in 
the dark manger he saw her little white face 
like a water lily floating in a well. 

“Oh, are you killed?” he whispered. “I 
think so,” was her sad reply. Then, more 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


75 


briskly, “Nonsense!” Help me out quick.” 
But that was not easily done and the other 
performers arrived breathless to find him 
staring in perplexity. For so close a fit was 
the feed box, that the plump form fit it like 
a cork. Push and pull as they would, neither 
could they lift her clear nor could she secure 
any leverage to help herself. 

“I tank you broken your back,” said 
Freeda consolingly, as she wiped the sweat 
out of her eyes, and Ellen was almost cheer- 
ful at the thought. A broken back would 
mean a wheel chair and white capped at- 
tendants and — but then she couldn’t go fish- 
ing any more and she renewed her struggles. 

“Oh, I must have broken it, for I can feel 


76 


MAKTNTG AN 


blood running,” she wailed suddenly, white 
lipped, and then began to shriek. , 

Balancing himself on the side of the box 
while Freeda held his feet, Robert put his 
two arms round her and tried to lift her, but 
went suddenly faint as his hands were met 
with the blood that was oozing from her 
clothes. 

‘‘Oh, you oof!” he cried to the dazed 
Swede, “do something quick, she’s bleeding 
to death,” and staggered back covering his 
eyes with his dripping hands. 

One grunt the slow boy gave. Motioning 
his sister to one end of the box he seized 
the other in his sturdy grip. There was a 
ripping, splintering sound and with a 
wrench the manger and wall parted com- 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


77 


pany and the overturned box spilled its con- 
tents on the floor. 

A series of shrieks was followed by an 
ominous silence as Ellen shudderingly es- 
sayed to move first her arms, then her legs. 
Both seeming unimpaired, she drew herself 
first to a sitting position, then to her knees. 

Freeda was first to recover from her awe 
and ran to help but one glance was enough. 

“Oh, gall her mutter. Hers busted’*, she 
gasped, and Ellen swayed, wide eyed, on 
her knees with outstretched hands as though 
imploring a divine aid where human help 
had failed. 

After what semed an eternity, a shaken 
small boy uncovered his eyes with a horri- 
fied glance at his blood stained hands — a 


78 


MAKING AN 


glance which changed to a stare. And with 
one bound he had caught her pleading hands 
and pulled her to her feet. 

“By gum, youVe broke all Whitey's 
eggs, ”he said, “and Mother Molly’ll just 
give you the Dickens.” 

“Oh, just wait till Mrs. Yames catches 
you once,” and Freeda dragged her brother 
away from the scene of retribution, looking 
back from the safe seat on the white horse 
to see Robert with a bunch of hay vainly 
trying to remove the omelet from the back 
of an Irish cyclone. , 


AMEEICAN GENTLEMAN 


79 


CHAPTER X. 

Adventure. 

“Before you go home you must all go 
raspberrying,” said James one morning, 
stumping into the dining room. As every 
one else seemed eager to go, Ellen^s mother 
languidly consented and bright and early 
next morning a jolly party started off in the 
big wagon. 

A few miles of timber road brought them 
to what Mr. James called a patch, although 
the city lady saw no bushes. She had no 
intention of scrambling around, but com- 


80 


MAKING AN 


posed herself with rugs and parasol to read 
until lunch time. 

They were at the foot of a slope covered 
with the fallen timber, and tangled growth 
that follows a forest fire and Robert soon 
showed Ellen the berries hiding behind each 
charred log. Now she knew why he had 
persuaded her to wear his knee high leggins. 
But worse than brambles he told her there 
were rattlesnakes, and showed her several 
skins nailed to trees as evidence. 

It was slow and tiresome work bending 
over the trailing bushes and robbing them of 
their half dozen treasures, but many hands 
make light work and their small pails were 
soon filled and they gathered at the wagon 
for their lunch. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


81 


A hint of rattlesnakes, and their chaperone 
took herself and her rugs into the wagon. 
Mr. James assured her facetiously that bears 
could reach her there, and there are always 
bears in a berry patch. In fact he did show 
the children some tracks, later, but they 
were evidently left from a nocturnal visit. 

The vines straggled upward for several 
hundred feet, and each picker carried a 
small pail which he carried down and emp- 
tied into a lard can near the foot of the hill. 
They were also armed with stout sticks, as 
much to help in their steep ascent as to 
kill the lurking reptiles. A large knife with 
a very sharp blade is part of the equipment 
of every berry picker and Robert assured his 


82 


MAKING AN 


companion that he knew just how to suck 
the blood from a bite. 

The afternoon sun warned them that it 
was time to start for home, and a halloa 
from Mr. James gave the signal. 

Ellen climbed down to the large can and 
started on down. As she looked back to 
wave a message to Robert she caught her 
foot and threw out her hand, forgetful of 
her warnings. 

Instantly a peircing shriek told the story 
and with wonderful presence of mind Mr. 
James called to Robert while he plunged 
down the slope. Living with this ever-lurk- 
ing menace, the upland people understand 
the need of haste. Catching the frightened 
girl in his arms, it hardly needed a glance 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


83 


for him to locate the already purpling spot 
and his quick knife had cut two slashes each 
way and he was sucking the poisoned blood 
from the cut. 

In the meantime, just behind, came 
Robert. He hated rattlesnakes, as does 
every westerner, and already had a string of 
rattles to his credit. Over logs and through 
brambles he climbed and slipped and slid 
and striking the can in his wild descent 
rolled the rest of the way in a race with the 
can, which came in, a close second. A gory 
trail they left behind of crushed berries and 
torn clothes. 

“Didn't you kill it?” his father asked quite 
needlessly. 

“Why, I killed it,” said the injured girl 


84 


MAKING AN 


exhibiting in proof a crushed hornet which 
she was holding in her uninjured hand, 
put my hand right on it and when it stung 
me, I just squeezed it to death.” 

A very crestfallen party gathered up a 
few berries, reassured the hysterical Mrs 
Price and wended their way home in the 
afternoon shadows. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


85 


CHAPTER XI 
Parting. 

The week’s end saw also the end of their 
summer. Robert had the pleasure of going 
to town with them, as he had his winter out- 
fit to buy. 

When the train pulled out, he had a vague 
feeling that he had lost a pal who could not 
be replaced. Too well he knew that these 
people of means wandered from one resort to 
another, seldom spending two seasons in the 
same region. Besides, Mrs. Price had been 
hopelessly bored in such a backwoods place, 
and only her doctor’s orders had kept her 
there. 


86 


MAKING AN 


But he had his winter’s schooling in town 
before him and, with his new interests, his 
summer’s play mate soon faded into a pleas- 
ant memory. 

As for Ellen, she turned the page on her 
unique experience with much reluctance 
Her knowledge of the boy world had been 
limited to dancing partners at her select 
class or at the small parties of her mother’s 
circle. She had viewed these insipid youths 
in dress suits and patent leathers, with much 
contempt ; so this boy who could not only do 
things himself, but also help her to the dis- 
covery of her real self, was like a being from 
another world. Not soon would she forget 
him, and never again would she be sub- 
merged by convention, without a struggle. 


AMERICiAlSr GENTLEMAN 


87 


Her rapture annoyed her mother but her 
father was strangely interested. He found 
her so lithe and strong, her eye so bright 
and her cheeks so ruddy, that he gave little 
weight to her mother’s forebodings. 

‘*For Pete’s sake, give the kid a chance,” 
he said. ‘‘You can go where you please but 
I’m going up there with her myself next 
summer.” 

But two years in Europe had even more 
fascination than the Rockies, and Robert be- 
came to her finally scarce more than part of 
a pleasant dream. 

Two years in graded schools had trans- 
formed the farmer boy. Never was one so 
adaptable. He bore few marks of his farmer 


88 


MAKING AN 


training, being as easy and refined as his 
mates from better homes. 

On the other hand no city boy could so 
box or run or skate or — the list was end- 
less. In athletics he always led. And the 
school felt his loss deeply when it was de- 
cided to let him finish in the east. 

His mother told his kind foster parents 
that she would be able to meet his expenses 
and firmly refused the help they felt that 
they had a right to give. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


89 - 


CHAPTER XII 
East And West. 

Her decision to introduce him to eastern 
culture followed an experiment she had 
made with her lawyer. Her estates were 
practically the largest that he handled and 
his respect for her business shrewdness, was 
unbounded. 

He was planning a two weeks hunting 
trip and she said “I wish you would spend 
your vacation in a favorite haunt of mine. 
There is hunting and fishing. And you can 
revel in scenery. While, as it is remote and 
little known, you will have the best of rests.’’’ 


90 


MAKING AN 


So urgent was she that he accepted her ad- 
vice and arrived at the Janies place one 
August evening after a ride that had left 
him exhausted alike of breath and of adjec- 
tives. 

After a day or two of rest and relaxation, 
just eating, lying under the trees, and sleep- 
ing, Mr. Stokes-Barrett began to look 
around him, and, in answer to his questions 
as to the resources of the valley, Mr. James 
referred him to his boy, Robert. 

In the cool of the evening a tall, well 
built young fellow joined him on the long 
veranda, introduced himself, and in a few 
minutes they were on intimate terms. 

It did not take the man of the world long 
to decide that he would be fortunate in his 


AMEEICAN GENTLEMAN 


91 


guide. This boy had the ease and fluency of 
culture along with the technical lore of the 
backwoodsman. With the eye and apprecia- 
tion of the artist was combined the practical 
sense of the pioneer. Farming in the moun- 
tains develops a working knowledge of Geol- 
ogy and fosters the love of sport that is in- 
nate in red blood. 

As the days passed, this man whose busi- 
ness it was to know men, wondered if any 
life could offer more. Here, every farmer 
engineer was a prospector, every prospector 
was a sportsman, and every man was a poet. 
The rest of life they could easily have. 
With the dawning era of good roads and 
the perfecting of power driven vehicles, 
society amusements and city advantages 


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were theirs for the seeking; while all the 
embarrassment and restrictions of com.- 
munity life were escaped. 

Could any so-called luxury of the city 
man ever outweigh the ease and comfort 
and plenty of the farmer king who depends' 
on no one but himself? 

“Faith,” said one old Irish neighbor, 
“why should I stay in the auld countrie and 
serve a king, whin I kin be a king mesilf in 
America ?” 

He found his young guide most facinating 
of all. There was a haunting something 
about him, something in his clear eyes or 
his stimulating vitality that was vaguely 
familiar. Such likenesses often exist. 
Traits that would have characterized a clan 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


93 


will crop out in generations most remote in 
location as in kinship. 

And how he envied his nature lore ! They 
were returning one afternoon from a day- 
long tramp. They had spent hours in a for- 
est of silver spruce, giant trees, brooding, 
graceful and tall, over dim aisles of silence, 
where their footsteps made echoes like 
stones dropped in a pool and where there 
seemed no life but their own, so deep were 
the shadows. 

They had sat down to rest before cross- 
ing the plain and were dreaming with half 
closed eyes. Suddenly a frightened jack 
rabbit scurried out into the open below them 
followed by two coyotes with gaping 
mouths. As one pursuer dodged to the right 


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poor bunny must have realized his error in 
taking to the open. Swiftly whirling to the 
left he was met by the other enemy. With 
fatal indecision he turned from one to the 
other, and the watchers witnessed the un- 
usual spectacle of these two most crafty of 
beasts of prey relaying each other, in this 
race of death. Although the end was inevit- 
able, never once did poor bunny falter until 
his fluttering heart gave way and he fell 
before one leaping monster who proceeded 
to make a meal then and there without offer- 
ing his running mate the courtesy of a mor- 
sel. Strange to say, the other coyote made 
no remonstrance. “He would have done 
the same,” said Robert. “Strange animals, 
coyotes. Always sneaks, they live on small. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


95 


weak creatures and rob the farmers^ hen 
roosts. I would have shot them if we had 
been nearer, but their pelts are worth less 
in the summer. I have sent my mother some 
very nice skins,’’ he added, “I caught two 
grey wolves last year in my traps and 
dressed the skins, myself. She says that 
she loves them.” 

‘‘Your mother? Why, isn’t Mrs. James 
your mother?” 

“No, Mr. and Mrs. James have been father 
and mother to me for most of my life, but 
my mother left me in their care when I was 
a small child, and pays for my support.” 

Here was material for a small scandal and 

I 

Mr. Stokes-Barrett was nothing if he was 
not discreet. But he was keenly interested 


96 


MAKING AN 


in this promising lad, and felt that his an- 
cestry might explain many of the traits 
which had puzzled him in a country boy. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


97 


CHAPTER XIII. 

A Close Call 

A heavy rain had fallen all afternoon, 
pouring in sheets against which one could 
scarce keep his feet. Down the hillsides the 
rivulets ran in increasing streams until the 
slopes looked like cataracts. The mountain 
stream across which one might step with 
ease had grown to a roaring river. Logs and 
stones were rolling down its course with 
boards and pieces of fence which told of 
serious damage. 

The farmer and Robert in slickers and 
boots hurried off to see the bridge which 


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crossed the divide into their valley. The 
other men followed and found the men of 
the settlement already gathered. Robert 
had joined the young Italian and Axel, 
already a young giant, and, together, 
they were fastening cables from the stout 
bridge timbers to the nearest trees. Small 
trees and debris of all kinds had already 
piled high on its upper side and their only 
hope was to swing the creaking structure 
with the current before it broke up undeT 
the strain 

The angry water was already spreading 
many feet on either side the banks and the 
boys were wading to their knees. 

It seemed a time for action and when 
Robert, having made fast one end of his 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


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cable, flung the other end shoreward with a 
call for some one to catch it, the lawyer 
sprang to it. 

As he grasped it and wrapped it round his 
waist against the strain, there was a mighty 
heave, a grinding crash, he felt his feet let 
go their hold on substance, he was swept 
forward and submerged in a deluge that 
rolled him over and over and beat him on 
the rocks and crushed the breath from his 
body. 

No need to call for help — the instant 
sensing of his danger was characteristic of 
these primitive men. Axel was slow but he 
sprang with a bellow like a bull in unison 
with Robert. Down the bank they plunged 
to the first curve where a stout willow over- 


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hung the torrent. Without a moment’s 
pause Robert swung over the water while 
Axel caught him round the waist and 
braced himself for the shock. 

A dip, a swing, and with straining arms, 
they were dragging the inert body from the 
jaws of death. Even so, with arms strain- 
ing from their sockets, they could only hold 
him until strong hands reinforced their own. 

Next day, when the grateful man told of 
his bruises, Mrs. James showed him a milk 
pail which she had caught with a rake as if 
eddied past. Braced, as she had been 
against a tree, she had been almost dragged 
into the torrent, and the pail told an elo- 
quent story of the boulders against which it 
had been beaten. , 



AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


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‘‘Well now/’ he said ruefully, “that bucket 
hasn’t got anything on me. I look as bad 
and feel worse.” 

He walked down several days later to the 
bridge site. Only the stout rock filled abut- 
ments of log remained to tell where the 
heavy structure of tree trunks and logs had 
gone down before a mountain cloud burst. 


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MAKING AN 


CHAPTER XIV 
A Mountain Frolic 

The stream was still running high on Fri- 
day night when a dance was given at the 
school house. 

Dances are the only home recreations of 
this region. Nowhere else do they get to- 
gether, and nothing short of sickness cr 
death keeps them away. 

They began arriving at sundown and by 
dark the school yard was full of picketed 
horses, ponies and wagons. Bag and bag- 
gage, children and dogs, they were there. 

A large party was expected from below, 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


103 


but how were they to cross the stream? 

It was just dusk when the first party ar- 
rived. They were on horseback and kneel- 
ing- on their saddles, the first women got 
through. The other horses, however, were 
less easily managed and one girl’s horse 
pranced round and round until she dropped 
her skirts and clung to the saddle horn. 

It was wildly entertaining to the small 
people, and vastly discomforting to the 
party, who were compelled to build a bon- 
fire and dry out before they joined the fes- 
tive crowd. 

In the meantime lanterns were lighted as 
the families arrived, each wagon furnishing 
one. The orchestra sat down by the organ 


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and began to tune his violin. And the 
dance was on. 

Nello was master of ceremonies. It was 
he who called the dances, it was he who 
shaved a candle on the floor, it was he who 
found partners for the square dances. 

It was fully ten o’clock when some one at 
the door called, Smith is across the 

creek with a crowd,” and every one rushed 
outside. 

It was dark, but a lantern showed a 
heavy wagon on the far side of the stream, 
and laughter and screams indicated a party 
of some size. 

There was much confusion of orders, 
cracking of whips, yelling of harsh 
commands. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


105 


Through it all could be heard the creak- 
ing of harness, groaning of wheels and 
snorting of horses. 

But the frightened team could not be 
forced into the current. The trip up had 
been hard. The roads had been badly 
washed and water was still running over 
the roads, while in places the mud had been 
literally knee deep. It had been nervous 
work, and the horse is a nervous animal. 

One cowboy suggested lassoing them and 
a rope was really thrown around the lead- 
er’s neck, but he plunged so wildly that the 
whole load was endangered. 

Finally, two cowboys mounted their own 
ponies and riding one on each side, led the 
plunging team across. Even kneeling on 


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the seats, the girls were splashed with water 
and it was a draggled crowd that was 
greeted with cheers a few minutes later. 

The benches had, of course, been removed, 
and boards nailed to boxes formed wall 
seats. Table and desk stood at the back 
and under these slept the babies, wrapped in 
quilts brought from home. How they kept 
from stifling in the dust raised by pounding 
feet, Mr. Stokes-Barrett could not guess. 

Only the babies slept. Children from ten, 
up, danced. Every one danced. A Fin- 
lander, seventy years old, swung gaily in 
and out in every number. Some of the girls 
wore riding skirts, others were dressed in 
organdy. 

The horseback party were city people 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


107 


and scandalized the natives by foxtrotting 
and doing other risque things. 

The guest was pleased to see Robert 
adapt himself so readily, two-stepping with 
the little dishwasher from the ranch, and at 
his ease with the city maids. 

At one o’clock, a pleasant odor of coffee 
stole in from the glowing stove in the entry. 

The organ ceased to wail. Trestles were 
set in the middle of the floor with boards 
across for a table, and heaped with good 
things from the wagons. Sandwiches, pie 
and cake, salad and pickles, coffee in tin 
cups and jars of cream. 

Everyone for himself! But the supply 
was abundant. No one stopped unsurfeited. 


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and it was a mystery how dancing was 
resumed. 

The tables were removed and after sweep- 
ing up the crumbs the old Finlander danced 
with the broom to a furious clapping of 
hands, and stamping of feet. 

Dancing began again at the clearing of 
the floor. The organist, who played only 
chords, or, as Mr. Forbes-Barrett thought, 
discords, with the violin, was relayed by the 
dancers. When not on the floor, men and 
women dozed on the wall benches, and the 
eastener was told that not until dawn did 
the party break up. True, those living with- 
in walking distance took their lanterns and 
departed after the midnight lunch, leaving 
the room much darker. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


109 


But horses and wagons dared not traverse 
the dangerous roads until daylight, hence 
a mountain dance is an all night function. 


110 


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CHAPTER XV 
A Revelation 

All too soon the city man^s play time was 
ended. He was sitting in .the evening shad- 
ows with his young friend and idly remin- 
iscing. ‘T have not thought to ask you 
about my friend, Mrs. Noble, who told me 
of this charming place, and said that she had 
often been here.” “Mrs. Noble? my moth- 
er? Do you know her? Why, yes, she 
always spends her vacations here with me. 
She cannot get off very often and it costs 
lots of money to come so far. Tell me about 
her. I have never been in the east but some 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


111 


day I intend to take care of her.” While 
the words were tumbling over each other, 
Mr. Forbes-Barrett was collecting his 
thoughts. Many things were clear now that 
had puzzled him. Why Robert had appealed 
to him so quickly, why he had been haunted 
by a vague resemblance to some one, why 
his friend had sent him up here. And so 
nearly had he gone without making the dis- 
covery for himself. 

“Yes, I know your mother well. She has 
been my very dear friend for many years.” 

“Does she work too hard?” 

“Well, she works as hard as any one that 
I know. We work together, you see. Yes, 
she has many friends, I think everybody 
likes her.” 


112 


MAKING AN 


In the light of his new knowledge, he 
would have liked to have spent another week 
with the boy, but he had made engagements 
which he might not break. He had much to 
ponder on his long homeward trip. He 
must possess his soul in patience, but he 
knew that she had had a purpose in sending 
him. 

As soon as he arrived in New York, he 
called her and they arranged to dine 
together. 

As he gathered up the tangled ends of 
his work his mind was asking “Why?” and 
the day seemed long. 

He had never seen her look more charm- 
ing. A soft glow flushed her cheek and her 
eyes were shy. Together they made out 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


113 


their order and the dignified waiter took the 
card. 

They commented on the music, the diners 
and society in general, fencing as skilled 
diplomats can. When at last their dinner 
was served and the man withdrew to a 
respectful distance, she gave a sigh of relief, 
and, bending her eyes on his, asked ‘‘What 
did you think of him?” And so nearly had 
he never guessed ! 

“He is fine, fine. Tell me all about it; 
why is he there? Why does he not know? I 
could not guess. I only know that he is a 
great boy and I wish he were mine.” 

A soft glance she gave him and touched 
his hand ever so lightly. “Never mind that 
now,” she said, and told him the story. 


114 


MAKING AN 


At its close he sat silent while she watched 
his thoughtful face. 

At last he said, “It surely is a scheme 
which no one else would have thought of. 
He has surely been safe up there. But now 
he must go to school. He will have to 
know pretty soon and choose for himself.” 

“I know,” she answered softly, “and so I 
sent you out to look him over. I can’t take 
the responsibility much farther.” 

“No, I should say that he must be told at 
once. He will be a man, will be of age in a 
few more years. What will he say then ?” 

“I am no longer afraid of that. It was 
only at first that I worried over such things. 
Afterward, I knew that he had only to see 
his future set, to thank me for ever and ever. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


115 


I want him to go through school in ignor- 
ance, but I need your help/* 

'Terhaps you are right. Anyway you are 
sure of my help and I know that you are 
one rich woman whose son will not disap- 
point her.** 

So it was arranged, and Robert spent his 
winters in an eastern school. 


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MAKING AN 


CHAPTER XVI 
West And East. 

He had a comfortable allowance but felt 
that he must make the most of his time and 
worked hard. 

His ready good nature made him popular 
with students and faculty alike, and his in- 
stant success in athletics soon made him the 
idol of his class. 

He was not interested in society however, 
especially as his wardrobe was limited, and 
his slender purse forbade its extravangances. 
He felt only annoyance when the manager 
of his baseball team asked him to help out 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


117 


with the girls, commencement week. His 
mother had promised to join him in Chicag^i. 
if he could stay over and he had gladly con- 
sented. 

When he tried to beg off because of his 
limited means, his friend had assured him 
that Com. week called for nothing more ex- 
pensive than flannels, as everything was in- 
formal ; and any way, a baseball hero could 
dress as he pleased. 

He had been working late and left the lab- 
oratory in the dusk. Seeing his friend across 
the campus he hastened over the lawn to 
catch him before they reached the club 
house. 

As he came silently behind the strolling 
pair, he heard DeWitt say, “It will serve her 


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MAKING AN 


right. She is such a snob. All the girls 
are crazy over his playing and she will never 
suspect until tonight, that outside of his 
athletics, he is nobody. She will have to be 
nice to him and will be bored to death after- 
wards.” 

Robert dropped back unseen, with a hor- 
rible suspicion that they were talking of 
him. 

He had never been self conscious and had 
been too truly intent on his work to realize 
any difference in his social position. 

Even now the independence that he had 
absorbed in his farmer life, prevented him 
from feeling anything but anger. 

A well set up young man, quite easily the 
most presentable in the party, he joined the 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


119 


boys after dinner, finding them all in white 
flannel, like himself. 

A short walk brought them to the hall 
where the group of girls were waiting and 
after laughing greetings and introductions 
all around, wraps were shouldered and the 
merry crowd found themselves, two and 
two, strolling across the shadowy campus. 

Robert had met several girls and found 
himself carrying a fleecy shawl and guiding 
the steps of a tall, slender girl in a pink 
frock, which he tried to fix in his mind as a 
means of identification if they should be- 
come separated. 

Some of the girls had called gushing com- 
pliments to him, and his companion assured 
him that she was only living until she should 


120 


MAKING AN 


see him play. He was modestly disavowing- 
any special merit when he remembered that 
this was his only claim on her interest. So 
he turned to a discussion of the game and 
soon reached the river where they were tak- 
ing boats to a pavilion three miles down. 
They had planned to dance a couple of 
hours, eat a hasty lunch and get the girls 
back within hours. A simple little program 
with two chaperons to see that no school 
rules were violated. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


121 


CHAPTER XVII 
An Old Friend. 

Robert found himself in a boat with two 
other couples, his friend DeWitt with a 
Seminary girl, Dollie Jordan, and Sam 
Walker, the club wit, escorting a girl whose 
name Robert had missed, but whom Sam 
called sometimes Pussy and sometimes Kit- 
tens. The boys were all upper classmen and 
Robert realized that he was only a filler-in 
and owed his preferment only to his skill 
and to the curiosity of the feminine element. 
He himself was not even sure of her name. 
It was Rice or Right, perhaps Bright. Some 


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MAKING AN 


one was strumming a guitar. Every one 
was singing. Sam was tooting an imaginary 
auto horn and they drifted down stream in 
rather close formation. 

“Don’t keep so close together,” called De- 
Witt and was echoed by cries of “Break 
away.” Don’t tread on the tail of me coat.” 
'‘Says the ant to the elephant, who are you 
shovin 

“Our Hired Girl is Lisabeth Ann,” chanted 
Sam, the irrepressible, splashing his oars. 

“I hate silly crowds,” murmured Miss 
Rice. 

“Oh, Lisbeth Ann, you must get you a 
man, as soon as you can,” sang Sam impu- 
dently, splashing water on her. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


123 


She flung her hand to save her dainty 
gown and sent her fan flying. 

“Lisbeth Ann has dropped her fan.’’ He 
sprang to his feet. '‘Fll see if I can” — but 
the careening boat sent him headlong and a 
wild clutch in mid air finished the catas- 
trophe. 

In a minute all were struggling in the 
water and the heavy boat behind them was 
ploughing through their midst. 

Sam caught the edge of another boat, 
steadied himself a moment, and then started 
to the rescue. He dragged Dollie Jordan, 
limp and screaming to the side of a rescuing 
boat and caught Pussy as she was propelled 
toward him by Robert. 

DeWitt righted the boat and he and Sam 


124 


MAKING AN 


both strove for the guitar. Some one res- 
cued the fan and the boys climbed into the 
boat. “We’ll take the girls back for dry 
clothes. You folks go on” said DeWitt. 
Then “My God, where’s Nellie?” 

A plunge, and Robert caught the drown- 
ing girl, only to be caught and dragged un- 
der by her clinging arms. 

Like all boys from mountain states he 
knew little about swimming. Ponds made 
by beaver dams had been his only swimming 
pools until he had had the use of the eastern 
Gymnasium, so he was inexperienced and 
not so quick to meet the emergency. The 
water was not deep but it was over his head 
and it was only after a struggle that he bore 
the body to the surface. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


125 


Gasping, he broke the frantic hold on his 
neck, but no boat was at hand and he turned 
shoreward. It was just a few feet, but only 
his athletic prowess enabled him to reach 
shallow water. There he stumbled to the 
bank holding the slender form in his arms. 

Quickly the other boats landed their 
frightened loads and boys and girls crowded 
round. Robert had already drawn the limp 
form across his knee and was applying his 
emergency teaching to her revival. One 
glance at the blood trickling down her fore- 
head had told him of the blow the second 
boat had given her and had explained her 
collapse. 

Warm rugs were brought from the boats 
and in what was really a short time their 


126 


MAKING AN 


friend sat up weakly and asked where she 
was. A passing auto was hailed and the wet 
party bundled into it and started back to 
town. They insisted that the rest of the 
crowd should finish their evening as 
planned. 

The other two girls were none the worse 
for their ducking, and the boys would have 
considered it rather a lark if nO' one had been 
hurt. The injured girl lay back quietly 
among her rugs and Robert was still tremb- 
ling over her narrow escape. 

Arrived at the Hall, boys and girls 
trooped in for help while he bent over the 
quiet form. “Are you sure that you are all 
right?” he asked. 

In the covered driveway he could not see 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


127 


her face but thought he caught a sparkle in 
her eye as she whispered weakly: “Do you 
suppose I broke old Whitey’s eggs?’^ 

Before he could catch his breath a bevy 
of girls swarmed down the steps and, under 
the direction of the matron, were hurrying 
the shivering girl upstairs. 

Long after he had changed into dry 
clothes, thanking his stars that he had been 
wearing flannels, he sat trying to piece the 
evening together, to recall that summer 
which seemed so far away, and to reconcile 
this tall young damsel with his memory of 
the little maid of long ago. 

He spent a restless day, having been told 
that he could see her in the evening. 

The boys guyed him and he found himself 


128 


MAKING AN 


half ashamed of his hero role. Only the 
thought of his pal carried him through the 
day. As soon as possible after dinner he 
hurried to the Hall. She had bidden him 
wait until the merry-makers had gone and 
the last hour of his wait he had spent on the 
street. The last of the jolly crowd was 
hardly out of sight when he mounted the 
steps. A maid directed him to the long ver- 
anda where he found her in a lounging 
chair. She was pale and strips of court- 
plaster covered the cut on her forehead, but 
the light falling on her face showed plainly 
the features which he had known so well. 
How could he have not known her? 

“But then I didn’t really see you,” he said 
“and I didn’t get your name at all. Even 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


129 


if I had, I would probably have not recog- 
nized it for I never thought of you as any- 
thing but Ellen/’ 

‘^Of course I knew who you were al- 
though you had no last name for me, either,” 
she replied. ‘^But then I had studied you 
out at the game. Tell me how you happen 
to be here?” 

‘T think that I must have been sent by 
Providence” he said. “I don’t believe those 
other idiots would have missed you at all 
till too late.” 

'‘You forget that if you had not been there 
neither would I. But do tell me about your 
schooling.” 

So their two hours were filled with remi- 


130 


MAKING AN 


niscences and neither one could believe it 
possible when the crowd returned. 

The rest of the week saw them always to- 
gether to the amusement of DeWitt and his 
friends who declared it the inevitable result 
of his saving her life. 

When the time for his departure came he 
urged her to persuade her mother to visit 
the mountains again. But too well they 
both realized that the society girl and the 
chore boy could never meet on equal terms 
in his native wilds. Here at school, where 
his prowess was so valued, it did not much 
matter, while at home he was no more than 
a farm hand. 

He joined his mother in Chicago and his 
story of the little pal whom he had met 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


131 


again, set her to thinking. “She is all kinds 
of a swell, and I think I gave her the only 
good time she ever had,” he said. Mrs. Noble 
knew the name and knew too that fate could 
not have played her a kinder trick than to 
have thrown these two together. 

“What if he falls in love with some coun- 
try girl, that ox-eyed Swede for instance?” 
Mr. Forbes-Barrett had said. “Or, what 
if that ox-eyed Swede would fall in love 
with him? I tell you she thinks a lot of him 
and Heaven help him if she should make up 
her mind to marry him. Then there are 
the girls who wash the dishes, he eats at 
table with them, you know.” 

And Mrs. Noble had shuddered, for she 
understood the danger only too well. So 


133 


MAKING AN 


well, that she was almost prepared to intro- 
duce him to her world. Now, she thought- 
fully decided he was safe for at least another 
year. 

Only, if there was any possibility that 
Eleanor Price and her daughter would be at 
the ranch, she must get her visit over and 
leave early. 

She need have had no fear, for it was 
enough when that lady heard of her daugh- 
ter’s adventure, and who her rescuer was. 
“What did your cousin mean by introducing 
you to such a boy? I shall never trust him 
again. That is the worst thing about such 
a vulgar school.” “Well it’s lucky for me 
that he was there,” was the daughter’s reply. 
But she knew it would be worse than use- 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


133 


less to suggest the outing. She did not know 
that she wanted it herself. Down in her 
heart she knew that she could not play 
around the ranch with a farm hand. It was 
all very well for a little girl but she was 
doing her hair up now and was going to- 
Smith next year. 

And so time rolled on and Mr. Forbes- 
Barrett insisted and Mrs. Noble begged for 
time. 

The lawyer spent all his vacation time 
now with his young friend. They kept up 
a regular correspondence and much good 
advice did the older man give his protege, 
thereby shaping his education for the 
responsibility that would soon be his. 

At school he was so wholesome, and so 


134 


MAKING AN 


lacking in self-consciousness, that he was 
quite indifferent to differences in station. 

He was thankful that his mother’s means 
admitted of a good education for himself. 
She had been left a small legacy in the mean- 
time and was quite comfortable. He would 
soon be able to take care of her, — his jolly 
little mother. 

Mr. James had some cattle to be delivered 
in Chicago the week before school opened 
and so Robert went east with them and, 
having disposed of them, was starting out 
to find some work until he should go on. 


V 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


135 


CHAPTER XVIII 
Another World. 

Just fresh from his breakfast he came face 
to face with his friend DeWitt. That ele- 
gant young man was already practising law 
in a desultory way and had been putting 
some business through and was leaving for 
home. 

It needed little persuading to induce 
Robert to spend his extra time on his 
friend’s estate. There was much to talk 
over and it was not until they were gather- 
ing up their baggage that DeWitt remarked 
‘‘My cousin Ellen is with the mater, the girl 


136 


MAKING AN 


you saved from a watery death, don’t you 
know. There she is now come down to meet 
us,” and Robert saw that a girl was driving 
the car that came sweeping round the sta- 
tion house. 

He had realized that the difference in 
their station had prevented her pursuing the 
friendship which had followed that tragic 
rescue, as it accounted for the coldly formal 
letter of thanks which he had received from 
her mother. Nevertheless the old cordial 
friendship stirred him as he hastened after 
his host. 

DeWitt had dropped his bags and was 
holding her two hands as he came up. 
“Here is an old friend, who does not know 
yet how much I owe him.” And she turned 


AMERICAi^ GENTLEMAN 


137 


her flushed face, to greet him with instant 
delight. A short ride brought them to the 
beautiful country place where the DeWitts 
had spent their summers for many years. 

It was Robert’s first experience in a home 
of wealth and his friend watched him rather 
curiously. If he had expected any embarass- 
ment he was disappointed, for the country 
boy proved himself very adaptable, and by 
night was a favorite with the whole house 
party. DeWitt had sung his praise before 
and it was a family of kindred tastes. 

Mrs. DeWitt was interested in the story 
of the rescue, especially as Ellen was to 
marry her son. She told Robert in the 
arbor over the afternoon tea cups and really 
did not notice his startled look. When he 


138 


MAKING AN 


excused himself in a few minutes, she smiled 
at him graciously and turned her attention 
to the nearby chatter. 

He sauntered toward the tennis court 
just in time to meet the young lady herself 
and another girl and joined them perforce. 

He could have hardly described his feel- 
ings. Surely it had never occurred to him 
that he might possibly marry this society 
beauty. He could not even say that he loved 
her. But in his heart he had long since 
determined to be as good as they some day, 
and he could hardly imagine the future with 
Ellen no longer a possible playmate. 

Perhaps that was why he brought her tea 
and spent the rest of the afternoon beside 
her hammock, reminiscing. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


139 


The formality of the dinner and the 
elaborate gowns of the ladies were a revela- 
tion, although the service and dressing were 
really very simple, as befitting the relaxa- 
tion of their summer home. 

After dinner there was music, desultory 
dancing on the long veranda, careless stroll- 
ing through the moonlit grounds, with De- 
Witt monopolizing his cousin, and it was 
not until the party was separating for the 
night that he spoke to her again. 

Their hostess was arranging for their 
breakfasts, DeWitt? He always break- 
fasted in bed. And Ellen! would she ride 
again? Who else cared to ride? Oh, Mr. 
Noble would like to ride of course. 

“He surely will,” said Ellen, “and it would 


140 


MAKING AN 


pay some of you to get up to see him. Why 
he is a cowboy!” And they parted in a 
gale of laughter. 

Robert was up betimes in the morning 
and he went through the stalls with more 
awe than he had felt in the drawing room. 

It did not seem possible that such quarters 
could be supplied for mere horses. And 
such horses ! He was not sure that he had 
ever ridden before, after all. 

He was still marveling when she joined 
him, and they were shortly cantering down 
the curving drive. 

“Do you remember when 1 learned to 
ride?” she smiled, and both laughed at the 
recollection of the small girl perched on the 
white horse. “Poor mamma! She thinks 


AMERICAK GENTLEMAN 


141 


that I was spoiled beyond redemption that 
summer. She sa,ys that my tastes have been 
vulgar ever since. And maybe they have, 
for that was my happiest sumpier.’’ 

“Well, this looks good to me/’ he replied, 
“but I can’t imagine keeping it up forever. 
What do these people do?” “What dp they 
do? Why, you saw them. This is what 
they do.” 

“I don’t know what you mean. They 
are not doing anything. Don’t they work?” 

“O, yes, DeWitt has an office and has 
cases — he is always there two or three hours 
a day, when he is in town, and Auntie has 
•her charities. Uncle, too. He is on ever so 
many boards. I know he hates to attend the 
meetings.” 


142 


MAKING AN 


A picture of DeWitt, breakfasting in bed, 
came to both of them and, as their eyes met, 
he laughed a little grimly. 

‘'And you,” he asked “are you going to de- 
pend on charity boards for your life work?” 
“I don’t know and I think you are horrid 
to spoil our ride,” she flung at him as she 
gave rein to her horse and was off like the 
wind. 

It was some time before they slowed 
down together and he returned doggedly to 
the subject. “You could come out to the 
ranch sometimes, you know.” 

“I wouldn’t come out there after” — 
“After you are married?” “After I have 
settled down,” she replied soberly. 

The rest of their ride was in silence. In 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


143 


vain she tried to reassure herself with 
thoughts of her social position, with a pic- 
ture of the ultra refined DeWitt. He did 
bore her and she could not deny it. While 
Robert thought gloomily of the advantages 
wealth offered to his spoiled friend. 

Their gayety as they parted was forced; 
and they carefully avoided each other the 
rest of the day. So reserved was Robert 
that DeWitt devoted himself to him after 
dinner and it was not until his friend was 
the center of a group of interested girls ask- 
ing questions about beaver trapping that 
the host went to seek his cousin. 


144 


MAKING AN 


CHAPTER XIX 
An Understanding 

He found her sitting on the step, with her 
chin in her hands, looking soberly into the 
night, — looking down at the twinkling 
lights in the village, he thought. But she 
was really looking across the plains and 
across the years and, seeing herself, as she 
had been for a short time, a part of a house- 
hold of busy people. 

‘‘Come over here and let me talk to you,” 
she said abruptly, and he flung himself at 
her feet. But her words came slowly and 
not for some time did she speak. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


145 


“Deedee, do you think this is any kind of 
life for a man?” she began at last, and he 
sat erect with a start. He was really rather 
proud of himself, had got through College, 
set up in Law, and had already been in 
court. He was looking forward to marry- 
ing his beautiful cousin and settling down 
pretty soon. He wasn’t very keen about it, 
but his mother was, and he lyas very fond 
of his little cousin. 

She moved slightly as he reached reassur- 
ingly for her hand, and continued, “Because, 
if you do, I don’t, at least it’s not for a 
woman, and I for one don’t intend to live 
it.” 

“What do you mean? That you will not 
marry me?” 


146 


MAKING AN 


‘‘That I must not marry you. I would be 
dissatisfied and you would be unhappy. 
Why, you don’t even love me.” 

“Ellen, don’t say that. Why I’m crazy 
about you.” “Yes, we are both crazy. If 
you had ever lived up in the mountains 
where things are real, you would know that 
human beings are made for more than this.” 

“That is what Robert says, and he surely 
ought to know. Pity he isn’t anybody. I 
would amount to something myself if he’d 
hang around me more.” 

“Yes, it is a pity,” Ellen answered 
thoughtfully, and DeWitt did not attempt 
to stop her as she went slowly into the 
house. It was raining next morning and 
there was no ride. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


147 


Ellen was trying to believe that she was 
busy, as she put some finishing touches to 
the dining room. Merry laughter floated 
down from upstairs where some one was 
playing billiards. She saw Robert come 
striding across the lawn in boots and rain- 
coat and knew that he had probably been 
out for a cross country run. She stepped 
through a window and met him on the 
terrace. 

“Why didn’t you tell me you were going 
out ? I love to tramp in the rain,” she said. 

“I really didn’t suppose you had ever been 
wet in your life,” he answered savagely. 
Then added as he caught* the reproachful 
look in her eye, “Not since you roughed it 
in the hills with me.” 


148 


MAIOIJG AN 


Her eyes filled with tears as she answered, 
‘*No one thinks for a minute that I h^te this 
life. Just because I am Hch, every one 
thinks that I have no purpose in life. Even 
Deedee doesn’t believe that I am in earnest. 
I am going to go into a training school and 
study nursing.” ‘‘Study nursing? How 
can ypu? DeWitt wouldn’t let you.” 

“DeWitt has nothing to do with it. I 
told him last night that I would never marry 
him nor any other idler.” 

“Why, Miss Price, Ellen, I had no idea. 
How can you forgive my words,” he 
stammered. For a moment he stood clinch- 
ing his hands, then, without looking at her, 
“I must go and change my wet clothes,” he 
said. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


149 


She stood aside silently, but her face 
flushed and her eyes were bright as she 
resuimed her small task. 

He did hot come down again until lunch 
time when he announced that he must leave 
on the 2:20, and hurried away amid cheer- 
fhl goodbyes, aiid without meeting Ellen^s 
reproachful eyes. 

“A mighty fine fellow.” “Too bad about 
him.” If he only had a chance.” But 
DeWitt turned on them quickly. “Never 
fear, he’ll make his chance. He’s the kind 
that make things go. Now if I were only 
like him,” and he looked speculatively at his 
rebellious sweetheart. But a boisterous 
laugh from the crowd was his answer and he 
turned glumly away. 


150 


MAKING AN 


Back in school, Robert knew. And in- 
stead of cursing his luck, he grimly resolved 
that the time would come when he would be 
free to ask his playmate to share his life. 
He knew now that he had always loved her. 
He knew also that he could not trust him- 
self with her and threw himself into his con- 
cluding term with an energy that left him no 
time for brooding. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


151 


CHAPTER XX 
Explanations 

It was the beginning- of his Christmas va- 
cation that Mr. Fqrbes-Barrett rapped on 
his modest door and claimed his company 
for the holidays. Robert was nothing loth 
to escape communing with himself, and 
they were soon on their way. 

“I have something to tell you, a long 
story,” his companion began, and ‘‘Drive 
on,” came Robert’s reply, as he settled him- 
self comfortably. But his indifference was 
soon scattered and he sat up wild eyed and 
incredulous as the story was unfolded. 


163 


MAKINTG AN 


“You are joking, I cannot believe it. It 
can’t be true,” he interrupted from time to 
time, only to have the lawyer wave him to 
silence. Mr. Forbes-Barrett had had many 
experiences in his lifetime but he was never 
so nearly panic stricken as he was now. He 
looked out of the window as he talked, for 
he felt that he could not meet this young 
man’s eye. 

“And now, young man, your mother is 
waiting for you and you are to spend your 
Christmas with her.” The young man had 
lapsed into silence, however, and only gave 
a reassuring hand grasp as the lawyer timid- 
ly hoped that he was forgiven. 

It was all like a dream and Robert could 
not believe that he would hot presently 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


15a 


awaken. The luxurious limousine waitings, 
the drive into the suburbs, the brightly 
lighted mansion with its well trained ser- 
vants and this beautiful lady mother who 
buried her head on his shoulder and sobbed. 

There were no guests at dinner, just their 
lawyer friend and themselves. “We shall 
want to talk things over,” his mother 
thought. 

But no one talked and after an evening of 
constraint three unhappy people went to 
their respective rooms to pace the floor until 
morning. 

Strange to say, Robert’s chief resentment 
became the having affluence thrust upon 
him. Only the realization that nothing 
separated him now from the girl of his 


154 


MAKING AN 


choice redeemed what for him was a really 
unwelcome state of affairs. 

He found himself thrust into the class 
which his early training- had taught him to 
despise and which he himself considered 
useless. 

There would be no chance for his individ- 
ual effort, no scope for the virility and 
efficiency of which he was so proud. 

Morning however found him sane. “No, 
no, dear mother, there is nothing to forgive. 
A thousand times I thank you for sparing 
me all these years. The one thing that I 
blame is that you gave it to me.’^ 

“Surely, they are both mad,” thought the 
hardened lawyer, wiping his glasses. 

Breakfast found them ready to plan. At 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


155 


school it would simply be understood that 
he had preferred to win out on his own 
merit. 

He had been almost forgotten in New 
York, but explanations there could be easily 
made. A western school, travel, a hint here 
and a word there and the new world, his 
world, would hurry on to the next sensation. 

He could not bring himself to think of his 
foster parents. Would it break their hearts 
or would they rejoice? Thank God, he had 
had them. “But mother, one thing I must 
do before this is generally known, I must 
go to St. Louis. I know you will not under- 
stand.’’ “Perhaps I understand more than 
you think,” she replied. “Then we can go 
together?” And so it was. 


156 


MAKING AN 


, A mother who understood so well that 
she stayed in their private car while he 
went alone to try his hand. 

He had phoned Ellen and she was waiting, 
frightened but outwardly sure of herself. 
She was careful to leave her mother in 
ignorance of the identity of DeWitt’s friend 
who was calling on his way through. She 
had had a hard winter with that schemer 
who had seen her plans shattered. And 
nothing which she did had lightened her 
disgrace. 

Her hospital work, her disregard of the 
claims of society — Oh, it was all maddening! 

Ellen had heard from him only in the 
most formal manner since their parting and, 
knowing his pride, had felt relief. Now her 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


157 


beating heart told her that his unexpected 
appearance was more than a friendly call. 

One glance into his face and she knew 
that she had guessed right. He had studied 
his speech as every man does, but at sight of 
her dear face, words failed him, and, as he 
felt her hand tremble in his, guessed the 
truth and caught her in his arms. 

“My mother is here,” he said at last, “and 
I must tell her it’s all right.” He went to 
the phone while she wondered if it was all 
right. 

She was tired of wrangling and would 
have been glad if they could have kept their 
secret for a while. That she knew, was im- 
possible ; and she wondered how she was to 
longer live at home. When he returned with 


158 


MAKING AN 


word that his mother would be there in a 
short time she lapsed into an agony of ap- 
prehension. All of his endearments failed 
to rouse her to enthusiasm, and he, at least, 
was relieved when his mother was an- 
nounced. 

Mrs. Price was just sweeping down the 
stairs and paused transfixed by the sight of 
her daughter in the arms of a man whom 
she too plainly recognized as the cowboy of 
her fears. 

At the same moment, before she could 
speak, she saw advancing the woman whom 
she had known for years as one of the ex- 
clusive of her set. 

She had only time to whisper a furious 
warning to her ungrateful child, as she 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


159 


hastened forward to greet ‘‘her dear Mrs. 
Noble.’’ 

But what was this ? The young westerner 
was also hurrying forward with outstretched 
hands, and it was he whom the exclusive 
one greeted first. 

“My dear Robert, you kept me waiting a 
long time. You have met my son, Mrs. 
Price? Now for your lady love.” 

Ellen’s world was whirling. Her mother 
was clutching a chair to keep from falling 
and Robert was coming toward her, arm in 
arm with this society leader whom she also 
knew. 

“And mother,” she heard him say “she is 
willing to marry me, though she still thinks 
I am a poor man.” 


160 


MAKING AN 


‘‘That is the best of all,” whispered Mrs. 
Noble as she clasped the girl in her arms. 

An hour of dizzying explanations followed 
and, as Mrs. Price beamed at him, he 
thought more than once of the woman who 
had a million reasons for changing her mind. 
There were several millions for his welcome 
as he already realized. 

Christmas was spent in his own home 
with Ellen and her mother as guests. Ellen^s 
father was too busy to leave his work but 
he did not count. However their first hand 
clasp made him and Robert friends. “Just 
the same kind of man as father James, unly 
in a different station in life,” Robert decided. 

Commencement week found them all to- 
gether again, with the good Jameses added. 


AMERICAN GENTLEMAN 


161 


“Just this once,” Robert insisted, “I must 
pay all the bills.” 

Mother Molly had not decided whether 
she was glad or sorry. One thing she was 
glad for and that was for his sweet fiancee. 

And DeWitt was there, already reconciled 
to his cousin’s defection although still rueful 
over her unsparing judgment. 

Long before the term’s close, they two had 
heard their country’s call to service and he 
was going into training as soon as possible. 
No sweet wedding trip to his dear moun- 
tains, just a quiet ceremony with their loved 
ones together before the Jameses went back 
to their many tasks. Then a summer of 
preparation and together they sailed to the 


162 


greatest work in the world, he for govern- 
ment inspection, she for hospital work. 

‘‘DeWitt? O, he is doing the best he 
knows how. He is head of one of the service 
bureaus and thinks he is working. But 
never in his life have his hands been dirty 
or his clothing worn.’’ 

Mr. Forbes-Barrett stood on the pier and 
watched them sail away, as he had watched 
so many of his dreams vanish. And he 
knew that much as he had disapproved of 
the plan of the friend of his youth, he was 
glad that Robert and not DeWitt was the 
son left to assume the responsibility of her 
fortune. 


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